


Restless Night

by EHyde



Category: Akatsuki no Yona | Yona of the Dawn
Genre: Gen, dragon brothers bonding, original dragon brothers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-12
Updated: 2016-05-12
Packaged: 2018-06-07 22:48:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6828283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EHyde/pseuds/EHyde
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zeno and Abi comfort each other as they adjust to their new lives as dragon warriors.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Restless Night

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by the picture from the volume 20 sketchbook with the original dragons’ age chart, when I realized that at the time they drank the dragon blood, Abi would have actually been the youngest. I liked the idea of Zeno being the big brother in the beginning (and I thought it made their eventual farewell even more bittersweet).

The sound of pacing footsteps stopped just as Zeno raised his hand to knock, and he lowered it again, hesitant. The blue dragon—Abi—had been having just as much trouble sleeping as he had, Zeno was sure if it, but if Seiryuu had finally managed to get some well-needed rest, Zeno didn’t want to bother him.

“Well? Are you just going to stand there all night, or was there something you wanted?”

Right, right, Seiryuu could see through the door, couldn’t he? Belatedly, Zeno knocked, feeling silly knowing that Seiryuu already knew he was there. But it was polite, right?

There was a sigh from the other side, and the door opened a crack. “Come in, Ouryuu.”

Abi’s room was nearly pitch-black. Zeno kept a single lamp lit in his own chambers (an extravagance he had never dreamed of at the temple, and one of the few luxuries he allowed himself here), but Abi’s chamber—half of the suite that he and Zeno had been given to share—was lit only by what came through the cracks in the door out to the main palace corridor. In the shadows, Abi looked pale, gaunt, far older than the sixteen-year-old boy who was actually one year Zeno’s junior.

“It’s late, what do you want?” Abi spoke harshly, as he always did. Was it his noble upbringing? Or did he feel he had to, to be taken seriously? Zeno had seen the blue dragon flinch, anytime anyone had come close to belittling him for his age. Zeno knew how he had felt—he’d gone through it a couple of years prior, at the temple, and hadn’t had that noble upbringing to fall back upon, either.

It … actually probably wouldn’t be the best idea, to comment on Seiryuu’s sleeplessness. “Ah, I’m having trouble sleeping,” Zeno said. “It’s too quiet here, you know?”

Abi stared at him blankly for a moment, then replied. “Right, I suppose you must be used to a noisy temple dormitory, aren’t you?” True enough, though those weren’t the voices that Zeno missed. “What of it?”

“Since our rooms are connected, would it be all right to leave the door open? Just, you know—to know that someone else is there?”

Abi paused, then sighed again. “Whether the door is open or closed makes little difference to me, so go ahead.” Zeno was going about this all wrong, wasn’t he? It was Abi he was really worried about, not himself, but if he couldn’t get the blue dragon to open up to him in sympathy, then he wasn’t sure how— “Just,” Abi continued, “I was going to ask you anyway—blow out your lamp? Please?”

Did Zeno detect a note of desperation in that last request?

“Sure, Seiryuu!” Wait—Abi was going to ask him anyway, even when the door was still closed? “Seiryuu, you’ve been having trouble sleeping, too…”

Abi turned his head away. “It’s too bright, that’s all. The hallway’s even brighter, but the servants won’t—”

“I didn’t realize it, but … your eyes work the same now whether they’re open or closed, huh?” If a wooden door wouldn’t block out the lights, what use could eyelids possibly be?

“I haven’t had a full night’s sleep since the day we rescued the king,” Abi admitted. That had been almost a week ago.

“… you didn’t actually ask the servants, did you?” Zeno asked. “I’m sure they’d be fine with one dark hallway!”

“I can’t just tell them that the Blue Dragon Warrior can’t control his powers!”

“Well,” Zeno reasoned, “I don’t think they’d see it that way, I mean—”

“You wouldn’t understand! You don’t even—” Abi broke off, realizing he’d gone too far.

“It’s true,” Zeno said. “I wasn’t given powers.” The dragon god had _changed_ him, that much was clear, but how and why … the powers and abilities of the other three were obvious, but for Zeno, it was still a mystery. He’d as much as told Ouryuu he didn’t want to be a warrior, though. Maybe he had only himself to blame.

“I didn’t mean—”

“It’s all right. I still get to be by Hiryuu’s side, so it’s fine!”

“Yeah …” And for just a moment, Zeno could feel the other dragon’s wonder and admiration—they _both_ got to be by Hiryuu’s side, that was something they shared—and it really was all right.

“I can talk to the servants about the lights,” said Zeno. He reached out, hesitantly, to pat the blue dragon on the shoulder—he knew how to comfort the younger acolytes at the temple, but with this noble boy, he wasn’t sure—

Abi flinched away. Yup, Zeno had done it wrong. “Don’t—we’re only a year apart, you know!” Then his expression softened. “Thanks, Ouryuu. And—if it helps—since you’re used to somewhere more crowded—we could share a bed? Just for tonight.”

“I’d like that!” Zeno smiled. Maybe he wasn’t doing this wrong after all—maybe Seiryuu really could be his little brother, just the way Hakuryuu said. “I’ll go take care of the lights, then I’ll come back!”

Just as he thought, the servants—in a palace, there were people awake and on duty even at this hour—didn’t have a problem dimming the lights in the corridor. Zeno didn’t even have to explain why, so eager were they to help out one of the four dragon warriors, one of the four heroes who’d rescued their king. Zeno would have a hard time getting used to that … especially since, unlike the other three, he’d hardly done anything to help. Sure, he’d kept the civilians safe, helped everyone else get away from the fighting, but rescuing the king? That was Hakuryuu, Ryokuryuu, and Seiryuu, not him.

As he returned to Seiryuu’s room, Zeno couldn’t avoid bumping into a couple pieces of furniture—the layout of the two rooms might have once been the same, but Zeno had rearranged some of his things, and Abi must have, as well. Was that—was that laughter? “You saw that coming, didn’t you?”

“I used to be afraid of the dark,” Abi admitted. “Now the darkness can’t hide anything from me, and it’s almost worse. But sometimes …” Zeno couldn’t see Abi’s face, but he thought the blue dragon might be smiling. “Don’t tell the others, all right?”

“That you were scared of the dark?”

“Don’t say a word! Ryokuryuu makes fun of me enough for—for being sheltered, and—as if he knows a thing about me!”

“I won’t say a thing.” Zeno thought of all the servants, tiptoeing around the dragons in awe, and wondered what they’d think if _they_ knew. _We’re all just kids, aren’t we?_ Zeno didn’t really know what they were expected to do now, by Hiryuu’s side—what role the gods had mapped out for them after that fateful day. Lying down on the bed next to Abi, he wrapped his arm around the blue dragon’s shoulders. As he drifted off to sleep, he tried to keep his eyes open—what must that be like for Abi, never being able to shut out the world entirely?—but it was hopeless, he couldn’t do it. Surely Abi would get used to it eventually, would grow into his role? Just as Zeno would grow into … whatever the gods had planned for him. _We all will,_ he reassured himself. Feeling Abi close to him, both physically and through their blood, it was easy to take comfort in their connection. _Whatever’s in store for us, we’ll grow into it together._

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I'm [fallenwithstyle](http://fallenwithstyle.tumblr.com) on tumblr if you'd like to come say hi!


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